This invention relates to telecommunications network and equipment, and more particularly, to apparatus and a method of replacing telephony cards without down time.
Telecommunications equipment is often provided with backup and redundant system components to avoid dropping connections when faults are encountered. Typically, a redundant component or circuit card is automatically switched into service when a fault is experienced in a circuit card or component. In this case, the traffic is forwarded from the faulty card to the redundant card or component. However, the system may still need to be taken off-line to service the faulty component or card or to replace it. This is typically done during times when there is light traffic, for example 2:00 A.M., so that as few as possible calls are affected. Because of the global nature of the Internet and businesses that operate globally, the hours during which traffic light is becoming more scarce and more than a desirable number of calls are still affected. Therefore, it is preferable to service the system with no traffic down time at all.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus of facilitating circuit card replacement without down time is provided. The apparatus comprises a redundancy connector assembly having a first connector and a second connector, a redundant bus, and a first circuit card coupled to the first connector of the redundancy connector assembly. The first circuit card has a logic circuit and a switch operable to selectively couple and decouple the logic circuit to one of the first connector and the redundant bus. A second circuit card also has a logic circuit and a switch operable to selectively couple and decouple the logic circuit to the redundant bus. A bypass cable is used to couple the second connector of the redundancy connector assembly to the second circuit card during replacement of the first circuit card and routing signals destined for the first circuit card to the second circuit card.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method of replacing a telephony circuit card without down time includes the steps of automatically detecting fault in the telephony circuit card and routing telephony data from a telephony data source via a redundant bus to a redundant circuit card, the telephony circuit card being coupled to a first connector of a redundant connector assembly. The method also includes the step of coupling a bypass cable to a second connector of the redundant connector assembly coupled to the telephony circuit card and to the redundant circuit card, routing the telephony data via the bypass cable from the redundant connector assembly to the redundant circuit card, removing the telephony circuit card from the redundant connector assembly. Thereafter, a working telephony circuit card is coupled to the redundant connector assembly, and the telephony data is routed to the working telephony circuit card via the redundant connector assembly. The bypass cable is then removed.
In accordance to yet another embodiment of the present invention, a method of replacing a telephony circuit card without down time includes the steps of automatically detecting fault in the telephony circuit card and automatically connecting a telephony data source to a redundant bus coupled to logic circuits of a backup circuit card, thereby routing telephony data to the logic circuits of the backup circuit card via the redundant bus, coupling a bypass cable to between a redundant connector assembly coupled to the telephony circuit card and the backup circuit card, and connecting the logic circuits of the backup circuit card to the bypass cable, thereby routing telephony data to the logic circuits of the backup circuit card via the bypass cable. The telephony circuit card is then removed and replaced with a working telephony circuit card by coupling it to its redundant connector assembly. The logic circuits of the working telephony circuit card are then coupled to the redundant connector assembly, and the logic circuits of the backup circuit card are decoupled from the bypass cable. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a redundancy circuit apparatus includes a redundancy connector assembly coupled to a telephony card, which includes a first connector having a plurality of pins operable to couple to a circuit card, a second connector having a plurality of pins operable to couple a bypass cable, a third connector having a plurality of pins operable to couple a data source to the bypass cable or to the circuit card, and the bypass cable is operable to couple the data source coupled to the third connector to a backup circuit card.